Melvin Percy Joseph Cardinal (July 17, 1941 – January 12, 2023) was a Canadian politician from Alberta. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1989 until 2008 as a Progressive Conservative representing the electoral districts of Athabasca-Lac La Biche, Athabasca-Wabasca, and Athabasca-Redwater. Cardinal was the first status Indian to hold a position in Executive Council in Alberta, serving in the cabinet of Premier Ralph Klein as the Minister of Family and Social Services (1992−1996), Minister of Sustainable Resource Development (2000−2004), and Minister of Human Resources and Employment (2004–2006). Early life Cardinal was born into a family of 13 on July 17, 1941 in Slave Lake, Alberta, the son of a trapper and a homemaker. He dropped out of school in grade 8 to work, but eventually returned to school and graduated from grade 12. He spent ten years in the forestry and sawmill industries before entering the public sector. He worked as a mortgage officer with the Alberta Housing Corporation before transferring to the Alberta Human Resources Development Authority. There he developed a native housing/relocation program before moving to the department of Advanced Education and Manpower, where he served as regional supervisor of Employment/Counselling Services for ten years. He served a further three years as a regional manager of Employment and Relocation Counselling Services, and three more as a senior consultant to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Advanced Education and Manpower. Political career Cardinal served as a town councillor in Slave Lake and on the school board of the Northland School Division No. 61, where he chaired the board for three of his six years of service. Provincial electoral record Cardinal first sought provincial office in the 1989 election, when he ran as a Progressive Conservative against incumbent New Democrat Leo Piquette in the riding of Athabasca-Lac La Biche. He defeated Piquette by nearly 900 votes. When electoral boundaries were re-drawn in advance of the 1993 election, Cardinal ran in the new riding of Athabasca-Wabasca. He was elected here not only in 1993, but also in 1997 and 2001, taking well over fifty percent of the vote each time. The 2001 election included New Democratic candidate Colin Piquette, the son of Leo Piquette who Cardinal defeated in the 1989 election. In 2004 this riding too was abolished, and Cardinal served his last term as the member for Athabasca-Redwater, which he won handily in the 2004